Methodology

Your Story Matter is an experiential training based on applied theatre, and has the capacity to disrupt the status quo as we hold up a mirror and asking critical questions. The power in this work lies in the fact that we experience and practice the transformation in interpersonal relations by simulating real-life situations.

The core of Your Story Matters training is based on Image Theatre, a segment of Theatre of the Oppressed, which is a system of theatre strategies designed to illuminate power hierarchies. In Image Theatre, we sculpt our stories, and then we analyze the images from varied perspectives as we work toward possible solutions and alternative choices.

Here is one example to illustrate experiential learning: If you were to teach someone what blindness is, you could attempt to verbally describe it… or… you could turn off the lights and ask the person to find the door in darkness. “Experiencing blindness” is more impactful as it elicits the holistic, empathetic understanding of what it means to be blind, elevating the quality and impact of the learning experience. Experiential learning enables us to put our own understanding into a broader context of the environment and in relationship with the experiences of other human beings.

Applied Theatre – Interactive Theatre for Social Change

Applied theatre refers to the use of drama practice in educational and community growing contexts. At the core of this practice is the intention to generate change (of awareness, attitude, behaviour, etc.) by changing audience to participants. Applied theatre has been successfully used in various fields and situations as means of promoting social and political change.

Philosophical Inspiration

My practice is people-centered. And what it means is that you, the participant, are in the centre of the practice. Your stories, your experiences, and your observations – become the content of the training, and it is thus 100% relevant to your needs. I truly believe that you are an expert on your own life, on your learning, and your professional growth. This belief is aligned with what Paulo Freire described as co-intentional or liberatory pedagogy in his Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and what is being developed as Critical Pedagogy. This pedagogy is rooted in a deep felt compassion for the fellow human being in our collective effort to create more just social order.

Unique Aspects of
Your Story Matters training

Balanced – Holistic

I believe that our world needs a balance of heart and mind, feelings and intellect, masculine and feminine. We are transforming the status quo that has for millennia benefited from distorting balance. I demonstrate my commitment to restoring balance by welcoming different parts of our being to the table:

Theatre-, story-, and play-based

The paradigm shift I want to see in the world lies in re-applying and re-integrating arts and play to our life. Creative expressions and artistic endeavours used to be accessible to everyone but became a domain of a few. Society constructed artificial divides between work, learning, and pleasure. However, human beings have always explored and learned by using the different modalities of art, such as role-playing, drawing, building and designing, creating music, listening, practicing difficult situations, imagining, storytelling, re-enacting.

No theatre or story-telling experience necessary.

All strategies we use at Your Story Matters, such as role playing or interpreting situations and inter-personal communication are innate skills available to all human beings.